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Chapter 33 (Oli) - The Stars Beneath our Feet

  Oli ran. At first, the outlines of the trees below him seemed like the pictures his father had kept in their home: thin images on fragile parchment, designed to trick the eye. He felt that if he landed too heavily, he might fall through the surface on which the image rested, back into the waking world below. He knew how the dream worked now. He had to reach the lake before someone woke him. I'll get the answers this time. I'll speak to my mother.

  It was a strange effort, trying to stay asleep. Even as he ran closer to the glistening spray of the mighty waterfalls he felt, alongside the rush of air on his face, the hard ground pressed beneath his right side. He clung to the former and pushed the latter from his thoughts. The figure ahead leapt over the ridge of water. He followed and suddenly could not tell the cold spray in his dream from the coolness of the night. He was aware of wanting to pull the hide back over himself, just as he was aware of reaching the ridge.

  A breeze blew from the lake and his nostrils flared around the scent of blossoms. He looked down. He stood at the edge of the waterfall with a steep drop behind him. The river continued, deep and calm for many yards. It climbed slowly toward its source.

  When he reached the lake, it no longer appeared as a gaping blackness. Perhaps this is what others see. The water undulated beneath the sun and reflected the full force of its light. The lake formed an unnaturally perfect circle and the bank around the circumference boasted a wider array of colours than Oli had ever seen in one place. It was like an explosion of light, with the brilliant white core surrounded by refracted petal colours. On the left side, slumped against a trunk as though asleep, lay the figure he knew to be his mother. He stepped closer, excited now but also nervous. The whole scene was impossibly tranquil. It was in places like this that predators lurked.

  “Son!” The woman sat up. Though he could not see her in the blinding light, he knew who it was.

  “Mum!”

  Oli started towards her but the light diminished. He stumbled, then looked up. The sun still shone in the cloudless sky, but the lake no longer reflected it. The silver illumination gave way to that yawning, black emptiness that he saw when awake. He looked to his mother as the darkness grew deeper. It reached into the sky, pulling at the light. It pulled at him, too. He was close enough to glimpse her face before everything faded. It was marked by lines that had never been there before. Her eyes were hollow and dark. White wisps of hair hung down between bald patches on her head. She's dying. As he screamed and flailed in the dark, someone’s hands grabbed his ankles. He had to escape this dream. Someone else held his arms now. Then he heard voices from the waking world. Even as they spoke to him and pulled him back, his mother’s voice pleaded in his mind. She spoke to him without words, dropping her entreaty into his thoughts.

  Won’t you come to me? My only child. Won’t you come to see me before I die?

  “I’m coming!” Oli shouted. “I’m coming!”

  “Where, Oli? Where are you going?”

  Joturn’s face appeared before him, its deep lines furrowed deeper in worry. Oli blinked, then looked again. He stopped struggling and the old man relaxed his grip. Kastor, who sat on the other side of him, reached forward with a damp cloth and Oli allowed him to wipe the sweat from his face. Was Kastor back from the caves? He must have returned while Oli was sleeping.

  “There, Oli,” muttered Kastor. “You’re back now. It was just a dream.” Ruefully he added: “It sounded like one of mine.”

  “I saw my mother," Oli stated. "I saw her by the lake again."

  The two men exchanged a look. Oli was relieved in a way to see them united, although it irked him that this subject united them against him.

  “I'm going to the lake to look for our kin," Joturn replied. "After I take you to the town for safekeeping. I upset a sleeper trail yesterday on the edge of the wood. None came. Something has drawn them away and it's as safe now as it's ever going to be."

  “Your elder’s right,” added Kastor. “There’s nothing good at the lake. Best not go down there, even if -”

  “She’s dying,” Oli interrupted.

  “She was dying in your dream?” Joturn rubbed his shoulder and Oli caught him stealing an inquisitive glance at Kastor. The two of them had discussed his dreams. Without him.

  “She's dying,” he repeated, shaking Joturn’s hand away. “She needs me. She wants me there.”

  Kastor leaned closer. “It seems real, doesn’t it? But I've got lost in this forest on paths that looked as real as a paved street in Terras. I’ve smelled honey and almost wandered right into a sleeper’s nest. I’ve watched you dangle a worm into the river for a fish, only to pull it up on a hook and thrash it to death. What seems true in this forest is often an illusion.”

  “You’re saying it’s a trap?” Oli demanded. He looked from Kastor to Joturn, who looked away. “You said the dream was a good sign! That it meant we’d find my mother there, and now you don’t trust it because of what he said!” He jabbed his finger toward Kastor. “When did you start trusting him?”

  “That’s enough!” Joturn exploded as he jumped to his feet. He glowered at Oli and his lip quivered. “I don’t have to explain myself to a child. We leave tomorrow morning. You'll spend today with Kastor while I hunt for supplies.”

  What shocked Oli this time about Joturn's anger was that it did not frighten him. The old man was more scared for him than he was for himself. And Kastor, what does he know? He showed me a world of peace and joy, and it terrified him.

  “I’m going into the caves again,” said Kastor. “I've got something to show you there.” His eyes sparkled with excitement. As extraordinary as those glowing symbols were, Oli could not rouse his interest. He could not tear his mind from the one thing that mattered to him.

  Joturn swung a pack over his shoulders and said:

  "You go in and out with himm, Oli. No longer than it would take for a single torch to burn. It's come to something, hasn't it. I'd rather you were inside those tunnels than sitting on the hillside staring at the lake."

  Kastor threw Oli a sidelong look, then commented:

  “He won't be thinking about the lake after he's seen what I show him. I wish you'd come, too, Joturn. You've never see anything like it."

  The climb to the tunnel was the hardest yet, despite the overcast sky. Kastor dripped sweat almost immediately and Oli begged him to pause and lie down. Kastor snapped at him in response and he did not ask again. When they rested halfway up, Kastor placed two hands over his wounded leg and seemed to fall asleep. When he came to, he walked a little easier, but his eyes flashed from side to side as though searching for a hidden ambush and he muttered darkly to himself.

  Eventually, they struggled over the crest to the entrance of the tunnel. Oli had not seen it since Joturn and Kastor had fought in the darkness, before those eerie letters appeared around them. And yet, despite the nearness of so foreign a world, it was still the lake which drew his gaze. A snap under his nose pulled his attention away as Kastor clicked his fingers.

  “Stop staring over there! It makes me mad. Come on, let’s get in.”

  “You were there," replied Oli. "You know something is happening, don't you?"

  “I was there and I'm not going back.” Kastor lurched to Oli’s side. “You really think your mother’s there because you saw it in a dream? You can’t trust dreams. Not from that place. It’s a hateful swamp, a puddle of evil. It’s...”

  Kastor stopped talking. The sun had broken through in the distance and a beam of light struck the dark circle of water. For a moment, the surface turned a brilliant white and blinded Oli’s eyes as though he were looking at the sun. Then the darkness came up to meet it, and it sat silent and still like an engorged pupil, watching with an urgent intensity. It was as though the lake had interrupted their conversation on purpose. From Kastor’s silence, Oli knew he saw the same thing. He picked Kastor’s sentence from the air where he had left it hanging and completed it for him:

  “It’s the most important place in the forest, isn’t it? How can anyone look at it and then look away, and live their life not wondering what’s there?”

  A shaking hand rested on his shoulder, as much to prop up its owner as to offer him support.

  “Most people see it and look away,” Kastor stated. “They know something’s there. They feel it. But they tell themselves it doesn’t matter and the next time they look they see what they imagine, instead of what’s in front of their eyes. They’re lucky. Luckier than you and I. Come on, Oli. Come into the caves with me. There's something in there I need you to see. I need at least one other person to see it."

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  Kastor limped down the passageway. He growled in pain and excitement, and to Oli’s ears seemed to relish the union of the two.

  “I’ll show you something you've never even dreamed of,” he panted. “Only a little further on from where I thrashed it out with your elder.” He spoke as though he and Joturn had settled an argument and rekindled a friendship, not come to blows that could have been fatal.

  Soon the incandescent glyphs revealed themselves and the little illumination they provided allowed Oli to discern Kastor in the darkness again. He shambled forwards without pausing to inspect them. They reached the junction from last time and Kastor led him left. The tunnel divided again, and again.

  “Where are you going, Kass? Are you sure you can get back? Slow down!”

  “Don’t worry!” Kastor replied loudly as the slope suddenly dropped and Oli scrambled and slid after his guide. “There’s a longer way back, but this is quicker for getting down. You get to come upon it suddenly!”

  “Come upon what?”

  “This!”

  Kastor halted and Oli collided with his back. With a grunt and a yelp, they tumbled to the ground. As Oli fell, something sandy cushioned his landing, then an elbow or knee struck his chest. Kastor yelled and Oli pushed himself away. He dusted himself down and shook his head. The room smelled clean. Or rather, the smell made him think of cleanliness. It recalled a memory of his parents with their elbows deep in soapy water at the end of autumn, washing the summer clothes. As he raised himself up his hands pushed against a coarse powder that was something between clay and sand. Terlos' Soap. There's so much of it in here you could buy the whole market of Scursditch.

  He was about to get down and dig to test how deep it went, but light from above caught his attention. He looked up and blinked. As his eyes adjusted to the new brightness, he inspected the room. They stood in a vast chamber with a smooth, dome like ceiling. Though wide and long, it felt crowded. The dome above them shone with clusters of dots and diagrams, symbols and shapes, most of which glowed in a perfect, white light. It shone like the starry sky in the middle of a clear night.

  He felt Kastor move beside him, but he could not tear his gaze from the heavenly display. The scent and warmth of the wounded man moved closer and be began to recite:

  “I stand in the pupil of the world’s eye

  While the world rolls beneath me

  A tiny room without sides

  Endless yet finite

  The stars above me turn

  Into stars beneath my feet

  Earth between Heaven on every side

  And myself in the pupil of the world’s eye”

  They stood side by side, the man leaning on the child, until Oli replied:

  “I’ve never heard that before. I like it.”

  “The Stars Beneath Our Feet. By Vestra, the third Prophet Emperor. It seems appropriate down here. Who knows what other constellations we’ve walked over?”

  “Did he know about this place?”

  “Nobody but you and I know about this place. No, he believed the world is shaped like a ball surrounded by sky, and spins through the darkness.”

  Unsure what to make of this, Oli ignored it. He felt it spoiled the poem and its power in the moment, if it was accidentally appropriate and written by a lunatic.

  “Are they all meant to be stars?” asked Oli.

  “Of course,” replied Kastor. “And not just any stars... The stars. Our stars.”

  Oli followed the direction of his outstretched finger to one of the brilliant white forms on a far wall. The ‘stars’ were joined with slightly dimmer lines. One of the shapes jumped out at him. In the middle of it a red dot glowed. He gasped.

  “It’s the spider! And there is the red star of Terlos, right in the centre!” Oli scanned the dots around the spider’s body. Some were connected to make shapes he had never seen in the night sky, but he realised that the stars were the same. If he took the leg of what looked like a horse and put it with the arm of a man...

  “There’s the Weeping Mother, and next to it are the Five Pillars! They’re all in the right place, but they make the wrong pictures. They look at the same stars, but see different things,” Oli said to Kastor.

  “Except for the gods,” his companion replied. “Look. They are just the same. And it’s not only the winter sky. Look there.”

  Kastor moved toward the centre of the chamber. The powder crunched beneath Oli’s feet as he followed. He turned and pointed above where they had entered, at a cluster of lights just above the narrow aperture of their tunnel.

  To his amazement, the star of Farlean glowed as brightly as on a clear spring night. The brilliant azure light nestled in its usual place – the eye of the fish. He frowned.

  “It all fits together... but how can the summer sky fit the winter one?”

  “They’ve squashed it into one, somehow. That’s why it looks too full. They’ve put all the gods into one vision of the night sky, yet somehow put them in the right places. It’s amazing. It’s a picture of the whole of heaven.”

  “Do you think the hoarders really did this?” asked Oli. He thought of the beasts whose howls he had heard in the night, about whom the only tales told involved ferocity, savagery and theft. “Perhaps your Beyobacks were another race. Or perhaps they were mountain people, and now the hoarders live in their old halls. They like bright things, after all. They are always collecting bits of metal and glass. Perhaps they came here for the same reason, because it sparkles and shines.”

  "Perhaps. I've never seen these creatures. Perhaps I'd see something different if I met them. I've left letters in the dust here in case they pass by."

  Oli continued examining the scene. "Look!" he exclaimed. "Look at how they drew Hurean!"

  "I know," replied Kastor, smiling at his enthusiasm. "Who could have thought of it?"

  The Restless Star could appear anywhere in the night sky from the start of spring until the end of autumn. It darted on a different course every year. Some said Hurean patrolled the skies, looking for a way to remain in his place through the inevitable winter, fighting against the season's pull that forced him to yield the night sky to his rebellious brother. Others said that he searched to this day for his lost daughter. On the dome above them, the Lord of Heaven sped toward the centre from six different directions. In each place his bright star appeared, the long tail trailed behind it like a banner in the wind. Oli followed their path toward the centre and down, then suddenly jolted his head back up. The centre of the dome featured neither no constellations. It wasn't just blank though, it was empty. Completely empty. A cylinder of rock had been removed, so that a pool of inky blackness sat in the middle of the illuminations. The circle was noticeable not for its light, but its darkness.

  "Kastor," he whispered, his voice trembling on the border of fascination and horror. "That looks like the lake."

  “What?!” Kastor almost snapped. “Do you have to take the damned thing with us everywhere we go, even beneath a bloody mountain? This is the night sky, Oli.” He jabbed his fingers around them, punctuating his words with angry gestures. “Where do you find a lake in the night sky? What sense does that make? That in the middle of their great picture of the heavens, these people placed a cursed lake from a forgotten corner of a cursed forest. What would that mean?”

  “I know it’s the lake,” repeated Oli, feeling more certain than before. He ignored Kastor's rising temper. He’d seen enough angry fits and survived them all. He did not fear this man anymore. A mystery as old as the gods themselves was unravelling itself in his mind. Some revelation that connected his dreams and the lake and the very heavens flitted just beyond his understanding. If only he could reach it. He looked at Kastor and narrowed his eyes.

  "Why don't you tell me what you know about that place?"

  Kastor stared at him. The anger flashing in his eyes gave way and they suddenly glistened with tears that bulged, reflecting the stars above their heads, then fell into streams down his cheeks.

  Kastor knelt on one knee in front of Oli and looked him in the eyes. His face was filled with a tender sadness. Oli realised he had not seen the medicine man so calm in a while. For a moment, his restless fidgeting and sidelong glances stilled. He stared back into the face of his rescuer and friend. His thin nose and lips and his dark eyes looked delicate and fragile. His unkempt beard shone. I thought you were a monster, once. Kastor spoke to him.

  "Oli, you don't know how much I have wanted to tell you. But I fear for what you'll do if I reveal what I know. I was in your place once. I was full of excitement for my journey. Full of a yearning to know what secrets lay at the heart of this forest. But I found them, and they hurt me. They'll kill you, if you look for them."

  "What if the secrets that wait for me aren't the same as the ones that waited for you? What if my mother is really there and I have to go there to save her?"

  Kastor seemed to struggle with himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply, then he placed a hand on Oli's shoulder.

  "The old bastard was looking for someone. 'Someone who had the gift without being given it.' That's what he wanted me to find. His demon familiar wants me to find it, too. He thinks it's you. I've kept it from you, Oli, even though I told your elder. I know you'll take it as proof that you should go, but you won't find answers to your problems there. You are the answer to their problem, whatever it is. I don't understand it fully, I admit. The subtler mysteries were kept from me. But I know this: if you go there, you will die. You must believe me."

  Oli looked down at his feet. He tried to take in the enormity of what Kastor had finally revealed. He was meant to go there. He was chosen to go there. But for what? To die? Could it be that brutal?

  "So, I go there and die, or live wondering what I never discovered. What if I can't live without knowing, Kastor? What then?"

  Kastor fell forward and wrapped his arms around Oli's body. He held him tight and Oli returned the embrace. The stars in the room swam into rivers as tears welled in his own eyes and Kastor pleaded into his ear:

  "You're a good boy, Oli. Too brave for your own good. Don't waste your life. Live for me, Oli! Let me save your life. Let me do something good here."

  “Kass!” Oli whispered. The tears cleared from his eyes and something caught his attention.

  "Promise me, Oli. Promise me," Kastor continued, oblivious.

  "Kass, behind you!" Oli whispered urgently. Kastor stiffened and unwrapped his arms.

  "What? What is it?" he whispered back.

  "There!"

  Oli pointed at the far wall. A shadow moved against the light. Kastor turned and froze. The movement began as a silhouette against the lowest stars, until it came closer. A small form padded across the white floor. The only sound in the cavern was the soft crunching of its feet on the ground, which seemed to fill the silence and the space between them.

  Its big, round eyes shone like those of a cat, reflecting the light above them. It moved with the same fluid grace, first on all fours and then rising onto its hind legs until it stood almost upright. Its whole body was covered in black, shiny fur which caught the light from different angles as it moved. The glow of the ceiling rippled across its body like starlight on a clear night reflected in a gentle stream. It stopped in full view, just yards away. Its face looked almost human as it regarded them curiously with yellow eyes. Its long tail curled in the air behind it, reaching above its head and twitching in the air excitedly.

  One of the creature’s front feet unfurled until its long toes looked more like the fingers of a hand. It reached toward Kastor.

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